A few quick thoughts about the Browns’ stunning, nightmarish, last-minute 31-30 loss to the New York Jets on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium in their home opener:
*There is no excuse for it, pure and simple. When you are beating a bad team – and the Jets are a real stinker – at home by 13 points with under two minutes left, you absolutely have to win. To fail to do so is a crushing blow that, if left unchecked, can choke the Browns going forward, beginning with Thursday night’s visit by the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is both a blessing and a curse that that game will come so quickly, a blessing in that it forces the Browns to put what happened on Sunday immediately behind them, and a curse if they can’t do it and let the sting of it carry over.
*As unbelievable as this loss is, it is not as much so as a 27-21 defeat in overtime to the Chicago Bears on Nov. 4, 2001 in which the Browns led 21-7 with 30 seconds left in regulation. So, the one Sunday has to settle for No. 2 in the expansion era. But the Browns of 21 years ago were still trying to become a good team. The current club is a good one. It is ready to win now. Again, no excuse.
*Wins are so hard to come by in the NFL. To let one slip away like that loss Sunday most likely will come back and haunt the Browns as they try to make the playoffs.
*The Browns have had pass coverage snafus dating back to last season. That is on defensive coordinator Joe Woods. It is his job to communicate the message and make sure everyone understands.
The defense is very ordinary
We have discussed this here before, and just recently, in fact, that claims in training camp that the Browns this season might have their best defense ever were, putting it mildly, terribly exaggerated.
This defense is only ordinary, at best, and in a lot of ways not even that. It proved it late in the season-opening victory over the Carolina Panthers, and it proved it early and late in Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets.
Dominating? Hardly.
Most NFL games are decided in the fourth quarter, and the team that makes the most plays then, wins. The Browns were able to survive against the Panthers because of Cade York’s big leg, but they couldn’t do so against the Jets because of York missing an extra point.
But don’t put this loss on the rookie kicker in any way, shape or form. The Browns lost Sunday because of a not-ready-for-prime-time defense. That’s on defensive coordinator Joe Woods and, ultimately, head coach Kevin Stefanski.
For the Browns to keep from being ordinary as a team, that defense must up its game considerably. It was supposed to carry the offense, and the team, for the first 11 games while quarterback Deshaun Watson sits out his NFL suspension, but, through two games, it has let both down greatly so.
